(SINL NIGERIA) The House of Representatives on Thursday passed for first reading the independent candidacy bill.
Specifically, the bill will make provision for Independent candidates to seek elective position devoid of political party.
The bill titled, “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Allow for the Participation of Candidates Who Are Not Sponsored by Political Parties in the Presidential, Governorship, National Assembly, State Houses of Assembly and Local Government Council Elections” was sponsored by the spokesperson for the House, Rep Akin Rotimi Jnr, representing Ikole-Oye Federal Constituency, Ekiti State.
Indeed the bill aims to amend sections 7, 65, 106, 131, 177, and 221 of the Constitution.
Rep Rotimi while briefing journalists said, the bill if passed to law shall offer a greater opportunity to Nigerian women, youths and most especially people living with disability to exercise their rights of contesting in an election without facing the rigours of primaries as is the case with political parties.
He said, “.We believe in inclusive governance, and part of that means that we are democratizing the political space for people like you and I, to have access to the electoral process as well, and to ensure that every Nigerian is also part of the process. To also ensure that, most especially the vulnerable population, such as women, youth, persons living with disability, are also given a level playing field to explore opportunities within the politics, law and electoral landscape.
He noted that, “The interest in the bill is to further democratize Nigeria’s electoral process. You know, currently, the Constitution as amended doesn’t have the provisions for independent candidates. So it’s a constitutional amendment bill which would, of course, go through the entire process that has been outlined as far as the sixth official to the 1999 Constitution as amended is concerned. There are comparable jurisdictions where this already happen. There are a lot of countries where you have very strong parties, extremely solid parties, but, still have independent candidacy provisions.”
